It has been played on radio at least 3 million times. Aired consecutively, that would be almost 46 years.

In the United States, it is the most requested and most played song on FM radio. It is the best-selling single unit of sheet music in history. Its final guitar solo has probably set more heads to banging than any other recording, and its mellow, hybrid-picked acoustic opening is, perhaps, the most recognized guitar phrase of the past half-century.

No doubt about it — “Stairway to Heaven” is the very model of “classic rock,” and the song’s phenomenal success guarantees its listed authors, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant, a spot in the rock songwriting pantheon.
That is, if they had actually written it. Which they didn’t.

At least, not the famous opening guitar instrumental cited above. Although you won’t find his name in the song’s credits on your well-worn copy of “Led Zeppelin IV,” it was Randy California, guitarist and founding member of Spirit, who composed that famous A-minor chord progression for the song “Taurus,” which can be found on Spirit’s self-titled debut album, released in 1968 — fully three years before “Stairway to Heaven.”

Lest you chalk this up to mere coincidence, be advised that Led Zeppelin opened for Spirit during their first U.S. tour in 1969 — a tour during which Spirit was known to perform “Taurus” frequently. Furthermore, “Stairway’s” vocal melody bears a suspicious resemblance to “And She’s Lonely,” a little-known album track by the Chocolate Watchband, a California psychedelic garage band with whom Jimmy Page — then guitarist for the Yardbirds — played in the mid-1960s.

“Stairway to Heaven’s” checkered lineage is just one example of the suspect “borrowing” — or full-bore plagiarism, depending on your tolerance — that undermines Led Zeppelin’s role as one of the most important rock bands in the history of popular music.

Perhaps the most egregious example of “Zep theft” occurred on the band’s 1969 debut album in the form of one of their most beloved songs: “Dazed and Confused.” Although credited to Page, the song was actually written by folk artist Jake Holmes, who performed it when opening for the Yardbirds at the Village Theatre in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The next day, Page was seen buying a copy of Holmes’ album “The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes” at NYC’s famous record store, Bleecker Bob’s. The Yardbirds noodled with the song and eventually added it to their live repertoire. When they broke up a year later, Page took the song with him to his new group, where he and Plant made minor changes to the lyrics. But a cursory listen to Holmes’ original recording will convince even Zeppelin apologists that the song is virtually note-for-note identical to the Zep’s more famous version. Despite this, Holmes has never seen a penny in royalties from the cover.

Literally dozens of Led Zeppelin songs were nicked, borrowed or just plain ripped off from other acts, especially American blues performers like Willie Dixon and Howlin’ Wolf, but also folkies such as Bert Jansch and Davey Graham — and even rock bands like Moby Grape and Page’s old outfit, the Yardbirds.

Maybe someone should have told Jimmy Page that — even with fudged credits — “The Song Remains the Same.”

Notes is supported by the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, promoting the success of after-school programs throughout Colorado in cooperation with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Notes can be heard daily on KAFM 88.1 or at kafmradio.org on the Web.